On this day, Aug. 16, in 1841, riots break out on the White House grounds after President John Tyler vetoed a bill to establish the Second Bank of the United States.

Upon learning of the veto, members of his own Whig party flooded out of the Capitol, marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and stormed the White House.

Congressional members bombarded 1600 Pennsylvania with stones, fired guns into the air and burned Tyler in effigy.

The protest is considered the most violent demonstration ever held near the White House.

As a result of the unrest, and another incident in which a drunken painter threw a rock at Tyler, Congress and the District of Columbia created its own police force, known as the Auxiliary Guard. Many years later, the force become the Metropolitan Police Department.

-- Scott McCabe